Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking as a former city councillor and I genuinely understand the enormous time and effort that councillors put into the making of development plans. It is two years' work and requires significant effort on their part. They engage with their constituents, lobby groups and so on. I am not going to repeat my request to the Government; everyone here knows what I want to say, including the Minister.

This legislation is important and the Fianna Fáil group will support it. We will also support the amendment as outlined. I would encourage the Department to continue to work in this way and to continue to engage with this House. We have a number of requests which I will not repeat now because I will be accused of lobbying. We have a number of requests of the Department and this House really wants to engage on them. I would encourage the Minister to come back to do that and we look forward to working with him.